Simple preparation of nickel single atoms for efficient CO2 electroreduction and techno-economic analysis

The development of low-cost and high activity catalysts is a long-term goal for electrochemical CO2 reduction applications. In this work, a nickel single atom catalyst was synthesized by a simple and economical method using cheap commercial carbon black as raw materials. The experimental and fitting results manifest that Ni single atoms were fabricated successfully and the calcination temperature plays a crucial role in the formation of nickel single atom. The nickel single atom obtained at 600 degrees C (Ni-N-C-600) displays superior CO faradaic efficiency and current density in H-type and flow cell. Meanwhile, the techno-economic analysis (TEA) of Ni-N-C600 in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) cell was introduced to evaluate the economic benefit of asobtained catalyst in near actual working conditions and emphasize the importance of cycle life of catalyst. The simple and economical synthesis method and TEA assessment have important guiding significance for future commercial application of electrocatalysis.